The biggest disruption is the way people receive their information, social updates, etc….moving from a world driven by TV”s and PC’s broadcasting, to one of tablets and smart phones connecting people wherever they are, and plugging these into the bigger screens for richer, longer experiences of content.

This disruption is starting to meld the previously separate worlds of branding and direct marketing, because now it’s no longer the reaction to the ad, it’s finding a way to build awareness and trust, THEN guide those interested into a purchase funnel…the direct marketing end of the business.﻿

The biggest disruption is the way people receive their information, social updates, etc….moving from a world driven by TV”s and PC’s broadcasting, to one of tablets and smart phones connecting people wherever they are, and plugging these into the bigger screens for richer, longer experiences of content.
This disruption is starting to meld the previously separate worlds of branding and direct marketing, because now it’s no longer the reaction to t...

You are providing a solution to their problem; that is why you need to fully understand the results they are looking for in the beginning.

You can do so many things today to research the problem; look at competitor’s sites (and if you say you have no competition, stop lying to yourself…if there’s no competition, there’s no market!) and read the glowing reviews people say about their products.

Read the words they use, the triggers that show the problem being solved. Go to Amazon.com and research books related to your market, to the problem you are solving.

Read the 4 star reviews sharing what people love, and also read the 1 star reviews, showing what the author missed. These negative reviews show you much more about the primal nature of the problem according to your customer, and are usually simple.

Integrate all this knowledge into your product/service BEFORE you develop it, and you’ll be able to unleash the primal force of your market, your tribe.

What questions do you have about the primal forces of your business, and of yourself as an entrepreneur?﻿

Trusting your own instincts and guiding yourself while listening to others is key for any entrepreneur, so let me share a few pieces of advice you should avoid at all cost:

Here's a few from my article:

1. Being passionate about your product is critical to your success.

Yes you should care and love what you are doing, but it's not about you, or your product. It's about your customer, not you.The whole passionate schtick is like the self help/Secret end of this business, as if just being passionate will get it done.

While investors want to see you really care about the business you are creating, the true path to success is seriously caring about the customer. Your goal as an entrepreneur is to solve their most important problem and understanding that most of your audience really doesn't know they have the problem.

It's about the problem you solve, and you should be passionate about solving that problem. Everything else flows from that, even your products will change and adapt to the market.

Be passionate about your market, your customer, and the single most important problem you solve for them.

Love the problem, not the product. Sometimes passionate people think it's all about them, and as a leader of a startup you do need to inspire. Yet passion, like happiness, is momentary, and it's in those trying moments that passion fades and true entrepreneurial zeal kicks in - meaning don't quit, don't whine, and keep finding the best fit for your customers.

2. You should be younger than 30 to get funding and succeed.

While the bias in Silicon Valley might edge towards this scenario, entrepreneurs of all kinds and ages are starting businesses. While I haven't seen mentors give this advice towards being young, it is a clear in most of what you read that it's a young person's world.

In the past 17 years, new groups of entrepreneurs have arisen, displacing the dominant stereotype of a startup with a new, leaner, and more practical business driven by more opportunity than jobs offer today.

In the Kauffman Foundation's Entrepreneurial Activity Report 2014, the two sectors that have shown the most growth between 1996-2013 are Hispanics and people 45-54.

Nowhere is this more true than in the startup space, where the drive to startup businesses isn't just because of funding for tech projects - it's because many people who are not traditionally thought of as entrepreneurs are leading the way.

3. You'll figure out marketing once you succeed.

Startups love to leave this part out. They have a charismatic leader, hopefully a good tech and UI person, but the marketer? They don't value that and it's easy to advise someone to neglect this and focus no product.

Maybe it's because the movie The Social Network painted a picture of building a fast growing company and then integrate advertising and revenue generation.

What happens if you're not Facebook?

Most startups die because they have no idea how to market or monetize their business, even down the road, and leave it up to chance. The subtle judgmental attitude towards marketing often shows - almost like it's beneath the person to even consider this at such an early juncture.

Good advice is to realize how important marketing is every step of the way. Sure you have to have good products or services to succeed, yet if you ignore marketing and expect you're greatness will get people talking - that's simply not good advice.

This is usually where the passionate people implode. Take a chance and at least look into marketing your business each step of the way.﻿

Why I don't see any ads on Facebook anymore - I opted out of retargeting, sick of seeing boring ads from tons of sites I visit, same ones over and over.

And now my feed is clear, shouldn't be but all the ads went away. Putting the link in the first comment if you want to check it out.Had 80 companies retargeting me, down to 23, just went back and its down to 1.

I've also seen a huge decrease in ads on other sites, nothing like Facebook, but my guess is that those buying ads always use some form of targeting.

From the site:"Opting out does not mean you will no longer receive online advertising. It does mean that the company or companies from which you opted out will no longer deliver ads tailored to your web preferences and usage patterns."

My guess is that by opting out, I also lost many ads because virtually eveyrone uses some web preferences and usage patterns to target ads. Those who don't are advertising to everyone, which is nuts, so maybe that's why I don't get ads...we'll keep an eye on it.

Key takeaway - if you turn off retargeting, the ads everywhere suddenly change, it's hard to explain but doesn't seem like people are buying the inventory for ads, it's all for retargeting.

Reason why you should be retargeting - it works. Well, but not for me. Get a bit more creative with your retargeting and I may allow it back

Smart folks I know doing retargeting approach it like an email autoresponder sequence, with triggers to move to new ads (after going to new pages, take them off one and put onto another).

Still amazed they don't just basically rotate ads so the same one doesn't show up, must be too hard for most to do, or laziness....advertising does have that way.